COST Action TD 1407 Training school

Technology Critical Elements: Toxicity Testing and Assessment of Risks

16-18 April 2018
National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Tallinn, Estonia

DESCRIPTION

Various trace elements, which were considered in the past just as laboratory curiosities, are nowadays key components for the development of new technologies. These elements, here defined as technology-critical elements (TCEs), include Ga, Ge, In, Nb, Ta, Te, Tl, the platinum group elements (Ir, Os, Pd, Pt, Rh and Ru), and most of the rare earth elements (Ce, Dy, Er, Eu, Gd, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, Tb, Y, Yb). It is expected that the increasing use of TCEs will affect their biogeochemical cycling at the Earth’s surface. For most of the TCEs, the present understanding of their concentrations, transformation and transport in the different environmental compartments is scarce and/or contradictory and their potential environmental and human health threats need to be further explored.

SCOPE

The training school objectives are introduction of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students as well as post-doctoral researchers to

• Current knowledge on environmental TCE concentrations and exposure
• Environmental and human toxicology of TCEs
• Selected exposure scenarios
• Risk assessment

Early Career Investigators (<8 year PhD) are specifically encouraged to participate.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• Villem Aruoja, National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Tallinn, Estonia
• Chiara Frazzoli, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy
• Natalia Ospina-Alvarez, University of Potsdam, Germany
• Sonja Zimmermann, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Further information about COST action TD 1407: http://www.costnotice.net